Taylor warms up for world title with Grand Slam blitz

Phil Taylor prepared for his attempt to regain the world title by winning the Grand Slam with an 18-11 defeat of his fellow Stoke native Andy Hamilton in Wolverhampton. Taylor, beaten in this year's world final by Raymond Van Barneveld, earned £80,000 in a match where he was outshone on the maximums, with Hamilton hitting 13 to his seven, but showed his class to win nine legs in a row after Hamilton, playing in his first major final, had locked the match at 5-5. Taylor said: "It is a massive win for me because I had lost in the first round a couple of times lately." Taylor will be the favourite when the PDC World Championships start next month at Alexandra Palace.